Human locomotion : how we stand, walk and run / by Burt G. Wilder.

  • Wilder, Burt G. (Burt Green), 1841-1925.
Date:
[1871?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Human locomotion : how we stand, walk and run / by Burt G. Wilder. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    5/18 (page 5)
    and aid in the spring for the next step ; the bear’s pes, it is true is “plantigrade,” like that of man, but the heel is short, the primus is shorter than the other dactyls, and the whole bony structure is so unlike that of the human foot, that instead of rising at the heel and springing from the toes, it is raised altogether, and put down again with a “ flop,” which is very much like the ungainly step of the negro minstrels. Much more might he said of the peculiar structure and action of the human foot, which is a most interesting and useful part of the body, although much less is thought of it than of tlie hand, it is generally concealed from view, and the toes are the only parts of the body which have been thrown into disuse and seriously injured by civilization ; we ridicule the Chinese for the distortion of their feet, yet our fashionable bootmakers are quite as guilty, since they abhor the natural form of the foot, and decide upon tlie proper shape of their wares with very little reference to the parts to he covered by them; the narrow sole, the inbent great toe and the elevated heel, are not a whit less ridiculous and injurious than the compressed foreheads of the Flathead Indians. . A good general definition of walking has been already quoted. The body is allowed to fall forward upon one leg, the other leg swinging forward like a pendulum, and planted at some dis- tance in advance, this process being repeated for every step, the “leg-pendulum” of a short man swings of course more rapidly than that ot a tall one; in the words of Dr. Holmes, “Commodore Nutt is to ]VI. Bihin, in this respect, as a little, fast-ticking mantel clock is to an old fashioned, solemn-ticking, upright timepiece.” The same author makes the tollowing statement: That a man is shorter while walking than while standing; and as the. explana- tion of this fact involves most of the things I have to say, I will endeavor to show whj’^ it is so. But first, is it ^factf There is a time when we rise upon tlie foot, and when one would expect the height to be increased. In proof that ' Dr. Holmes is right, we have, first, tlie evidence of ladies, wlto say that a skirt whicli does not reach the ground while standing, mav sweep the ground while walking; and second, the experiment wliich I now try, of walking rapidly, with the eyes shut, under a rod which just touches the top of the head while standing under it; in order that this experiment shall be satisfactory, however, the following con- ditions must be observed: The rod must be steady and horizontal; the person walking under it should have no idea of its exact location,'